Tick, Tick... BOOM! - review

Tick, Tick... BOOM! (by and on Netflix), titled after one of its hero's musicals, is the film directorial debut of Lin-Manuel Miranda, the acclaimed creator of Hamilton. Perhaps appropriately, it is about musical theatre and, itself, turns into a musical; covering the few days, in early 1990, leading to star-crossed composer Jonathan Larson's 30 birthday. 

At that time, Larson, who went on to write Rent, was in the throes of completing his first musical, on which he had been working for eight years, before a crucial showcase in front major players in the industry. With social puritanism and the AIDS epidemic as background – with close friends getting infected, or sick; some of them dying, Larson, a straight man, struggles to write a final key song for his show, while confronting existential questions about creativity, his life choices, and his priorities.

The film features numerous examples of Larson's work meshed into the narrative of those few days. Some are part of the story, which shows the build up to the showcase, while others help tell the story itself, although it quickly become unclear which does which, turning the whole thing into a multi-layered, metatextual confection. 

Although set in 1990, the show offers many resonant themes for our no-longer-so-early 21st century. The sci-fi musical Larson is working on is about a celebrity culture based on appearance, that doesn't seem that different from our own, and the film ends on a rousing chorus of questions about apathy and freedom that also seems quite relevant to our time. 

While they went over the head of this terrible gay, the film is clearly packed with references to and in-jokes about musical theatre that will delight all those musical queens in the audience, and the cameos by Judith Light (as Larson's laissez-faire agent) and Bradley Whitford (as Stephen Sondheim) are both very enjoyable. 

Andrew Garfield, in the title role, successfully carries the whole edifice on his shoulders (There are very few scenes if any in which he isn't present, if any), which leads to perhaps the one criticism that can be made about the project: that, once again, it is a film placing the story of straight white male centre stage. There is a gay best friend, and it is nice to note the presence of MJ Rodriguez (of Pose fame) in a minor role, but all characters are really only foils to Garfield's Larson, who truly dominates the film. 

Although this isn't really a happy story, the film is never maudlin, and always manages to keep fairly upbeat and entertaining, while somehow still packing a serious emotional punch. It is a great debut for Miranda, and an interesting insight into the contingencies of creative life and into Larson, who died at 35, the night before the first performance of his best known show, Rent.